Battle in The ATL - MEP vs Travler Match Thread

Who ya got?

  • MEP in 2. Youth and fitness prevail. Travler goes down in heap of racquet switching frustration.

  • MEP in 3. Epic 3-hour pusher war ends with Travler choking the overhead on match point.

  • Travler in 3. Forehand slice dropper wears down MEP’s famous wheels.

  • Travler in 2. Travler turns back the clock and S&V’s his way to victory.

  • Everybody wins!

Results are only viewable after voting.
travlerajm said:
Actually, the example point here exemplifies the lack of touch of today’s players. Like many of the top modern players, Barty plays with a ‘laggy’ spec (really light handle, heavier head).

The laggy spec makes it easier to control the modern full-lag forehand. But it has the downside of making it really difficult to hit a 1bh slice that doesn’t float. Barty’s slice bh return is very floaty in the example (not at all resembling the penetrating slice of the best volleyers of the past), and I believe she really should have lost that point, as her opponent had plenty of time to line up the pass.
Click to expand...
travlerajm said:
I disagree. Touch and racquet specs are integrally related.

Most modern pros look like they lack touch because they are playing with racquets that are inherently worse for touch shots compared to the racquets wielded by the best players in the 70s, 80s, and 90s.

Another poster brought up Murray’s amazing lob skills as an example of good touch. When you play with a 400sw, it’s relatively easily to control the depth and trajectory of your lobs.
Click to expand...
travlerajm said:
Karatsev has superior volley touch than the other top players like Djokovic, Medvedev, Thiem, and Tstsipas for a reason. Simple physics.
Click to expand...
travlerajm said:
Dustin Brown stock? Not even close.

Also, stringing at 80 lbs is one way to massively improve your touch. I used to string at 80 lbs myself for years, when I was a full-time S&V-er.
Click to expand...
travlerajm said:
Bringing up Sampras just helps make my point. If you want to volley with the touch of Sampras, you need to have a lot of mass in a certain part of the racquet.
Click to expand...
You make those claims as if there was some truth to them. You are making stuff up. You can volley with any racket you are comfortable with. You can lob with any racket you are comfortable with. You can slice with any racket you are comfortable with. The specs of your particular racket have miniscule, if any, effect on the outcome of the match. Your skills matter, being match-savvy/tough matters, everything else is just fluff you/we tell ourselves when we lose to make us feel better.
 
zipplock said:
I don't know. In that vid that was posted, LITERALLY the first thing he does is FRAME a ball. I almost peed myself laughing. Comedic genius!!!!
Click to expand...

you should visit the Srsh tribute thread
there is a video of an amazing drop volley by Srsh
there is a video of Srsh taming a tiger while playing tennis and much more
 
sureshs said:
On Saturday (doubles), I hit what is known as a knifed backhand slice down the alley past the netman. The 3 others were just stunned at the pace I was able to generate on a slice. I didn't realize I had the touch and feel to pull it off.
Click to expand...

is there a video available?
 
travlerajm said:
It may be lost on some posters that I made a major racquet switch mid-match against GSG. I started the match using an old school spec (50g of gorilla tape concentrated above the top of the handle) that gave me excellent touch. I was feeling confident about my chances early on. But after GSG escaped multiple game-point deficits with clutch shots in the last two games of the first set to grab the first set, and then played with better focus than me in the first several games of the second, I found myself in a hole early in the 2nd set.

At that time, I panicked and made a serious tactical error. I switched to my head heavy clay court spec frame with light handle. After that point, I no longer had the touch and control that had kept me competitive in the match. After an initial adjustment to my spinnier ball (I won the first game after the switch, including a rare neutral ball rally error from GSG), GSG sensed my weakness and lack of precision, and stepped in to his shots more offensively, hastening my demise.
Click to expand...

Well, next time you play GSG, you will strategize better. It is all a learning experience. GSG plays hundreds of identical guys but his opponents don't see anyone like him.
 
Dolgopolov85 said:
But GSG isn't winning only with exceptional feel. I dare say it isn't even exceptional. It's his ability to think so clearly on a tennis court; that's simply priceless at the rec level. So few rec players can actually strategize under tournament pressure but he does it again and again. Even when he's losing, it's not for want of trying to make changes to adjust.
Click to expand...

I notice that he seems unfazed by any ball. A lesser person would see a fast shot to the side and just give up. Not him. But it is possible only because he is fit. I also think he has very good eyesight.
 
sureshs said:
GSG plays hundreds of identical guys but his opponents don't see anyone like him.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure about this being the case anymore. I have been in a couple situations lately where I'm playing someone new, and they have seen me play on the channel, but of course I've never seen them play. On top of that I'm pretty sure the ET crew held group film study sessions of my matches in advance of my going up there to play. ;)
 
GSG said:
I'm not sure about this being the case anymore. I have been in a couple situations lately where I'm playing someone new, and they have seen me play on the channel, but of course I've never seen them play. On top of that I'm pretty sure the ET crew held group film study sessions of my matches in advance of my going up there to play. ;)
Click to expand...

Srsh is often in the same position
challengers study the available videos, discuss alternative point construction strategies, strength / weaknesses, pros / cons, watch the highlights in the STC player's lounge, while Srhs is typically not knowing much about opponent

either way, as you can see, Srsh still has the capacity of pulling out of the hat surprises for opponents, like that slice with stunning pace
 
Last edited:
blablavla said:
Srsh is often in the same position
challengers study the available videos, discuss alternative point construction strategies, strength / weaknesses, pros / cons, watch the highlights in the STC player's lounge, while Srhs is typically not knowing much about opponent

either way, as you can see, Srsh still has the capacity of pulling out of the hat surprises for opponents, like that slice with stunning pace
Click to expand...

As someone that has done just that, I can tell you Suresh looks and plays different now from the classic video.
 
5263 said:
I guess when you quoted my post for your comment I was thrown off then, lol.
Click to expand...

lol ... I actually thought of that when I replied, but words failed me (yes ... the irony of me lacking words) regarding trying to say I didn't think you were a pusher shamer. :p I think I confuse people when I am occasionally nice.
 
sureshs said:
What requires more finesse - driving at 65 mph or parallel parking at 1 mph? Think about it deeply and see how it applies to tennis.
Click to expand...
Tennis is always “driving”. Apart from maybe tossing ball to serve you never have option to delay action and spend time aiming.
 
GSG said:
I'm not sure about this being the case anymore. I have been in a couple situations lately where I'm playing someone new, and they have seen me play on the channel, but of course I've never seen them play. On top of that I'm pretty sure the ET crew held group film study sessions of my matches in advance of my going up there to play. ;)
Click to expand...

I was talking about your pre-fame days. Now that you are a household name (travler said a coach in Uruguay follows you), things are different.
 
Dragy said:
Tennis is always “driving”. Apart from maybe tossing ball to serve you never have option to delay action and spend time aiming.
Click to expand...

Cruise control came years and years ago, but automated parallel parking is a recent technological addition in some high-end cars.

What does this tell you? A baseline topspin based power game requires lesser touch and feel than a game based on accuracy, drop shots and slices.
 
sureshs said:
Cruise control came years and years ago, but automated parallel parking is a recent technological addition in some high-end cars.

What does this tell you? A baseline topspin based power game requires lesser touch and feel than a game based on accuracy, drop shots and slices.
Click to expand...
Who told you hitting hard with topspin doesn't require accuracy? You would only know if you tried. Always easy to pretend what you can't do is 'easy' or 'unrefined'.
 
sureshs said:
Cruise control came years and years ago, but automated parallel parking is a recent technological addition in some high-end cars.

What does this tell you? A baseline topspin based power game requires lesser touch and feel than a game based on accuracy, drop shots and slices.
Click to expand...

cruise control might have come years ago, but the automated distance control came pretty much same time as automated parallel parking, no?

what does it tell you? swinging all out like a maniac isn't difficult, but making that ball landing consistently between necessary lines is a different story
 
Dolgopolov85 said:
Who told you hitting hard with topspin doesn't require accuracy? You would only know if you tried. Always easy to pretend what you can't do is 'easy' or 'unrefined'.
Click to expand...

One thing I will grant you: topspin requires much more sense of timing, while slices are much "safer" that way. That is why there is such a big climb for those who grew up without topspin. But once you master it, then you find that you have lost the feel for the finesse shots. Life is so difficult, you can't have it all.
 
sureshs said:
One thing I will grant you: topspin requires much more sense of timing, while slices are much "safer" that way. That is why there is such a big climb for those who grew up without topspin. But once you master it, then you find that you have lost the feel for the finesse shots. Life is so difficult, you can't have it all.
Click to expand...
So...uh, are you telling Roger Federer he has no sense for finesse? You know that Fed hits massive topspin and not 'flat', right?
 
sureshs said:
Cruise control came years and years ago, but automated parallel parking is a recent technological addition in some high-end cars.

What does this tell you? A baseline topspin based power game requires lesser touch and feel than a game based on accuracy, drop shots and slices.
Click to expand...
Well, that might come from different driving experience. In my city driving the streets has nothing to do with cruise control, and speed control is least of challenges. Monitoring other cars, changing lanes and making instantaneous correct decisions with decent margins for error - that’s about driving skills. Parallel parking is mostly challenging if there’re several impatient drivers waiting for you to finish and unblock the route.
 
Dragy said:
Well, that might come from different driving experience. In my city driving the streets has nothing to do with cruise control, and speed control is least of challenges. Monitoring other cars, changing lanes and making instantaneous correct decisions with decent margins for error - that’s about driving skills. Parallel parking is mostly challenging if there’re several impatient drivers waiting for you to finish and unblock the route.
Click to expand...
Sounds like what it is to drive in my city too. ;) Anticipating sudden swerves from other motorists or a pedestrian emerging out of nowhere right in front you is the hardest thing. Worst when you have to stop at the top of a gradient with a manual transmission and jump on the first opportunity you get to cross in heavy traffic. Very little margin for error unless you want to let your car slide back into the vehicle behind yours.
 
Dragy said:
Well, that might come from different driving experience. In my city driving the streets has nothing to do with cruise control, and speed control is least of challenges. Monitoring other cars, changing lanes and making instantaneous correct decisions with decent margins for error - that’s about driving skills. Parallel parking is mostly challenging if there’re several impatient drivers waiting for you to finish and unblock the route.
Click to expand...

Yeah ... Parallel parking with spectators would suck.
 
Dragy said:
Well, that might come from different driving experience. In my city driving the streets has nothing to do with cruise control, and speed control is least of challenges. Monitoring other cars, changing lanes and making instantaneous correct decisions with decent margins for error - that’s about driving skills. Parallel parking is mostly challenging if there’re several impatient drivers waiting for you to finish and unblock the route.
Click to expand...

in fact, I know sufficient amount of people for whom parallel paring isn't a challenge
but driving in a packed traffic is much more stressful and challenging
 
Dolgopolov85 said:
Who told you hitting hard with topspin doesn't require accuracy? You would only know if you tried. Always easy to pretend what you can't do is 'easy' or 'unrefined'.
Click to expand...

Certainly requires more rf sweet spot accuracy. 8-B It's one thing to be a flattish hitter and wear out your strings dead center, and quite another being the rec version of Nadal and do it. I am not pretending I ever wore out any strings dead center ... crap ... showed weakness.
 
I have played against exactly one GSG in my life. He had a short, low, quick serve, and only slices off both wings. He had tremendous stamina and speed, as well as court sense. He covered the court in the blink of an eye. He used to beat quite a few players in singles who couldn't read him at all. He played the same way in doubles, in which it was very easy to beat him because his short dinky strokes could be just hammered away.

He said he once walked into a club when on vacation and tried to play without being a member. The guys he played with were so impressed with his "unorthodox" strokes that they fed him snacks and asked him to come every day for the rest of his vacation!

All that running ruined his knees. He started wearing braces, then making excuses for not playing due to pain, and then stopped coming altogether.
 
ByeByePoly said:
video or it didn't happen
Click to expand...

I know you're joking but...

I've driven everyday on this very stretch that you see in this video and in similarly heavy traffic:


And you see how close the bikes get to the left mirror of the cars to their right? Yeah. So...we have to kind of develop a feel, a sixth sense, for where these vehicles might come from lest the bikes end up colliding into us. Because if anything happens to the biker(s), the guy driving the car gets blamed; at least that's how it is in India.

Amazingly, on most days, nothing happens. But that's because with the traffic being so intimidating, only skilled drivers dare drive in rush hour. So we make sure we keep the vehicle absolutely straight no matter. There is zero margin for letting it drift even an inch; you'd collide into another vehicle on your left or right for sure if you did.
 
Dolgopolov85 said:
I know you're joking but...

I've driven everyday on this very stretch that you see in this video and in similarly heavy traffic:


And you see how close the bikes get to the left mirror of the cars to their right? Yeah. So...we have to kind of develop a feel, a sixth sense, for where these vehicles might come from lest the bikes end up colliding into us. Because if anything happens to the biker(s), the guy driving the car gets blamed; at least that's how it is in India.

Amazingly, on most days, nothing happens. But that's because with the traffic being so intimidating, only skilled drivers dare drive in rush hour. So we make sure we keep the vehicle absolutely straight no matter. There is zero margin for letting it drift even an inch; you'd collide into another vehicle on your left or right for sure if you did.
Click to expand...

Yes but the speeds are low and most accidents are fender-benders. It is far more dangerous to drive on roads in the West, where a small mistake is the end of the story.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

travlerajm
  • Poll Poll
Battle in the ATL - MEP vs Travler - Part II
2 3
Replies
107
Views
3K
FuzzyYellowBalls
FuzzyYellowBalls
Back
Top